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Pope Francis will welcome a group of prominent comedians tomorrow, Friday the 14th in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican. Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock and Whoopi Goldberg are just a few of the more than one hundred artists who will meet with the Supreme Pontiff with the aim of “celebrating the beauty of human diversity.” Malena Guinzburg was the only Argentine representative summoned for the event.
In dialogue with THE NATION, Guinzburg provided details about the invitation and his expectations for the event: “Even though I am Jewish, I know that a meeting with the Pope is something very important and that I couldn’t miss that experience. I still don’t fall. It’s crazy. “I am happy and very anxious.” she said enthusiastically from Rome, hours before the event.
“I received an invitation via WhatsApp from a producer I didn’t know and When they told me that the Vatican wanted to invite me to meet the Pope I thought it was a joke. I told him: ‘Yes, of course, but tell me a little more’ and I stayed waiting for the scam. Then they sent me a message saying that the Dicastery was looking for me and only then did I realize that it was serious.“, revealed the comedian about the surprise she found finding her last name among the select group of comedians.
Once the veracity of the invitation was confirmed, Guinzburg launched a campaign to cover the expenses of the trip: “The meeting does not include travel or hotel. I almost gave up because it was a lot of money. Because of my performances in the theater, I can only leave the country for a week and it seemed like a huge expense. “I tried to get an exchange, but it got complicated,” the comedian acknowledged to this medium. Finally, the artist decided to prioritize the exclusivity of meeting the Pope personally and she traveled at her own expense.
Guinzburg learned about the complete list of guests through LA NACIÓN journalist Marcelo Stiletano and was enthusiastic about the stature of the figures with whom he will share the experience. “As soon as I read the names of those summoned, I was very happy to have accepted because I realized that it was something very grosso. I didn’t know if there was anyone else from Argentina on the list because they didn’t tell me anything. I’m very happy”. The call includes American comedians (Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jim Gaffigan, Whoopi Goldberg, James Martin, Tig Notaro, Chris Rock and Conan O’ Brien), Brazilians (Fabio Porchat, Cristiane Werson), English (such as Stephen Merchant, from The Office), Mexicans (among whom is Florinda Meza, known as Doña Florinda and ex-partner of Roberto Gómez Bolaños), Colombians, Germans, Poles, Spaniards (Cristina Castaño, Belén Cuesta Llamas, Sara Escudero Rodríguez and Victoria Martin), Portuguese, Swiss, Timorese, Irish and the largest group (two thirds of the participants) will be from Italy.
On repeated occasions, Pope Francis highlighted the role of humor in society. During an interview with the Italian television channel TV2000 he noted that he prays daily according to the words of Saint Thomas More, and that he asks the Lord to grant him a sense of humor. And that was not all: during his meeting in June 2023 with artists in the Sistine Chapel, the Pope expressed his views on comedians, including actors, artists, cartoonists and writers and assured that they have “the ability to devise new versions of the world”, and they often do it with irony, which is a “wonderful virtue.” Furthermore, on that occasion, he noted that, “after all, Scripture itself is rich in moments of irony.”
In 2020, within the framework of a visit by former President Alberto Fernández to the Vatican, the Pope advised the leader to read a prayer about good humor: «Grant me, Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me the health of the body, with the good humor necessary to maintain it. Give me, Lord, a holy soul that knows how to take advantage of what is good and pure, so that it will not be afraid of sin, but will find a way to put things back in order. Grant me a soul that does not know boredom, murmurings, sighs and lamentations and do not allow it to suffer excessively for that dominant thing called self. Give me, Lord, the sense of humor. Grant me the grace to understand jokes, so that I may know a little joy in life and be able to communicate it to others. So be it,” the Pope read, before Fernández and Fabiola Yanezwho listened to him attentively.
Friday will be a day full of activities for Pope Francis. You will begin your morning with the audience of more than 100 comedians and at 11:30 you will take off from the Vatican by helicopter and will land in the Puglia region for the G7 summit. The attendance of a Pope at this event is unprecedented and his participation is linked to the papacy’s reflections on technological advances.
The Pope understands that artificial intelligence represents a crucial challenge for humanity. “The Church continues to consider the human being as the center of her mission. From this perspective, it is clear that what interests you is not the technical tool, but how and to what extent it can affect human life“Paolo Benanti, advisor to the Pope and the Vatican’s main AI expert, explained to AFP. Last year, the Pope encouraged artificial intelligence developers to make the intrinsic dignity of every man and woman the key criterion in evaluating emerging technologies in his deliberations.
The summit is attended by leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) such as US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. It will be a event marked by international tension due to the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip and by the political turbulence both due to the United States elections and the recent electoral results that shook Europe with the advance of the extreme right. The Argentine presidentJavier Milei, who had initially decided not to participate, will go as a guest to Italy on a short trip in which he will be accompanied by his sister, Karina Milei. Pope Francis is scheduled to return to the Vatican on Friday night.
